Friends to the Bitter End
by SilverShadow140
Summary: When a world of vile prejudice and harships weigh one down all you need is one thing; a friend. As time passes friendship can bloom into other things only to be brought down by one thing: death. Rated T.


_**Friends to the Bitter End**_

_**By: SilverShadow140**_

_**.com/user/TsubasaTARC**_

_**Summary: When a world of vile prejudice and harships weigh one down all you need is one thing; a friend. As time passes friendship can bloom into other things only to be brought down by one thing: death. Rated T. **_

_**Disclaimer: All concepts belong to Namco Bandai Tales Studio.**_

The taste of blood was still thick in his mouth as he hunched over, shaking heavily. Tears that were formed in his deep jade eyes kept falling despite how he tried to quell them. He had just accomplished a victorious fight, but he felt no glory in it. No searing pride with the defeat of his enemy. Only a dark emptiness that threatened to engulf him whole like a never-ending vortex. No amount of glory could reverse what was already done; nothing could turn back time despite how much he wished. The once-stable arms that held his weapons were now shaking with grief and the effort to support himself as he tried to settle from his fit of sorrow. Just moments before, he had been enraged; attacking his opponent like a hellfire would've attacked a dried and withered forest. With all his might he had swung his sword and axe with no apprehension, but now that it was all over, the ground-shaking truth had hit him full force; no matter how he looked at it, he had lost. His eyes burned, and long, unruly red auburn hair hung in front of his vision as he finally hauled himself to his feet from the position he had assumed on the floor and staggered over to the crimson pool that was his comrade's life force; over to the broken and fragile body of what was once his best friend.

He fell to his knees at the side of the other, blurred vision scanning over the once white coat and black attire of his companion; the clothing was torn and gruff, with blood soaking it. Once bright blonde hair was now streaked with blood, making the colour that resembled garnets and blank grey eyes stared back at him with no emotion or signs of life. That was why he had lost; he had lost his one and only friend who understood him and stood up for him. He had lost the only one who had seen him for who he was - not what he was. His hand reached out shakily and slid over the blonde's face, giving a slow downward motion to shut the grey eyes.

_It was so hard for him to accept this when less than an hour ago, they'd been smiling and talking as if there was all the time in the world..._

He sat there as he always did, working. All around him the clattering of beakers and the smell of permeating items wafting up from most of them and only half of them were identifiable; the other half only the Goddess Martel would be able to identify. There was hushed talking amidst the smells and sounds, all of it was uttered tones of the human language and the Elven language but, there was the occasional mesh of the two. The room was dark and muggy; extra heat clinging in the air like the plague being trapped by stone walls and large wooden book cases; a dungeon of imprisonment for the sake of science so everyone could be happy.

_Everyone, such a nice word even when it's used in such a way to be a lie; everyone, that is considered human or even the elven kind but what about those stuck in-between?_ The question came from one of the researches; one those sullen in-betweens to be exact. It wasn't odd for the specific person to have such thoughts but having no outside work to do made work seem slow. With no breaks and the only way to gain a 'walk for fresh air' was to go on a field assignment granted that those were rare and they always had at least one human with them. They were prisoners of science in more of a literal term but he more or less had already come to terms with that as much as he didn't like it. But he couldn't argue too much; being locked away in the basement kept him away from humans who often taunted his kind.

A small sigh escaped his lips as he glanced down at his notes, all of them scribbled down with haste on yellowing pages. He was about to continue with his research when he was interrupted by one of his fellow researchers. Her skin was paler than his, albeit he was more common to go out on field work and her hair was teal and in a clip; she wore glasses like himself but hers were a little more heavy on the rims. Behind her was a younger looking boy with short, light blonde hair that had a cowlick sticking up and grey eyes that were on the verge of a blue or purple. The complexion of the boy was pale and his form was slim despite being disguised by a large, white lab coat. This boy was not someone he had seen before so he was slightly curious and somewhat annoyed at the interuption.

The girl was the first to speak, clearing her throat. "Richter you have someone wishing to see you." She gave a motion towards the blonde and backed off, probably returning to her work and studies. Richter on the other hand was at full alert; the boy was a human and most humans despised his kind. But the boy held a kind face, not one that was of admonishment and loathing. Richter was slightly befuddled at this but perhaps it was nothing more than a façade in order to gain some semblance of reliance. He could tell however, that he was somewhat anxious and tense, his eyes scanning along the walls of the room.

"What is it?" Richter's voice was level but his tone clearly stated that he wanted to get this over with as quickly as possible, a certain inherent harshness with it. He had never been one for talking for too long and talking to a human wasn't something he was too keen on either. He knew all humans weren't bad but most were; most would sneer at him or tell him to go die for just existing. But there was nothing he could do about it; he could only tone it out and ignore it at best.

The blonde boy finally spoke up, his voice hesitant and nervous as he scanned over the red head quickly. "Um, Richter, right? I was wondering if you'd like to help me with some research; I heard you were working on something similar so…" Richter had understood what the blonde had meant, wishing for them to do collaboration on the research. He didn't really have a choice in the matter so he saw no reason behind the pleasantries.

"That's fine..."

The blonde nearly jumped, evidently realizing that he had forgotten to introduce himself. "It's Aster... it's a pleasure to meet you."

Richter could only watch the human in slight distaste but at the sametime an intrigment; normally humans would have dropped the pleasentries, but this one was persistant. This one was definatly different.

_Over the next few months they grew closer, meeting for research and field work as often as possible, and when unable to do that Aster would often sneak into the lower areas of the basement to see the his new 'best friend'..._

The afternoon was hot and muggy, the basement and other work areas had become so over heated it was practically impossible to work; there was a fairly nice breeze and the windows were just big enough to catch it. It was on this afternoon that Aster was laid on the floor of an office, lab coat thrown to the side and spread out trying to soak the coolness of the stone tiled floors up. Richter sat behind a desk, pen in hand and his black coat hung over the back of the seat, his glasses hanging on the edge of his nose, threatening to fall off. Richter's emerald eyes would only bolt up to view the human when he made a complaint or comment, occasionally a small smile gracing him when Aster mused with political structure or how expensive food was in the cafeteria.

"And anyways, where does the king even begin getting off with that? Monsters aren't evil and I'm determined to prove it!" Richter blinked, only catching the latter half of what Aster was rambling about. This however put his mind into gear thinking about rights, namely the rights of his own people; so many people thought of him and others of his race as evil.

Richter glanced at Aster; he had a question that had been bothering him for some time but had never had the chance to ask it. "You don't mind do you?" He sounded somewhat sad; his expression was bitter and his eyes fell to the floor. At this question Aster sat up, his blonde hair clinging to the side of his faced because he was sweating so heavily.

"Mind what?" Richter could have laughed at the expression Aster gave; he looked as if he was hurting himself becasue he was thinking so hard.

Despite this, he kept on a serious note, swallowing hard, unsure if he really wanted to know the truth. Usually he wouldn't really care but he and Aster had come too long of a way and he had opened the once sealed walls up too much to turn back. He considered Aster a 'friend', and the very first human to treat him like a person. "Mind me being a half-elf."

Aster gave a small scoff, laying back down. "Oh really, there's a difference now? I just thought you were a person." Aster goaded with a semi-sarcastic voice. "But really, Richter, it doesn't matter. You could be half-llama and I still wouldn't mind at all." Aster smiled over to the red-head, his grey eyes gleaming childishly. "Or are you trying to tell me you _are_ half-llama?"

Richter couldn't help but smile at his friend's jest, releife washing over him. He was glad really; even despite how many times he told himself that he should remain indifferent on how Aster felt it was nice to know he had at least one person sticking out for him. At least he was actually _worth_ something to someone rather than just being nothing more than a parasite to the common populous.

_But neither could predict the way things would change..._

Both the researchers from Sybak were in awe as the so called 'centurian', began to hatch, taking form. The form was evidently female, with a long, eligant body of black white and blue with yellow highlights. She turned her blue eyed, stern gaze to the two friends, her voice echoing through the chamber. "I am a servant of Lord Ratatosk, the Centurian of Water; Aqua." She took in the two and scoffed, her pitched voice incridulous. "What is it?"

Aster blinked in amazement and tried to regain his senses, fixing his collar to express the fact that he was actually _trying_ to regain his composure. But he was too late to speak, Richter taking stand for the blonde. "I'm Richter, and this is Aster," Richter made a gesture to the rambling human before starting again. "We're here to see if you will take us to Ratatosk due to the situation. Mana is out of balance and we believe it is becaue he, Lord Ratatosk, and his centurians slumber.

Aqua gave a hum of approval, evidently impressed by the half-elf's deminor. "Very well, I shall take you to see him." The centurian hovered closer to the two, doing a few loops around them before settling near Richter's side. "Alright, shall we go?" She giggled loudly trying to cling to the half-elf but he shook her off easily.

There was a small noise and both Richter and Aqua turned to Aster, who, despite wearing an excited smile, held a serious glint in his eyes. "What about when we pass through towns? Won't people mistake Aqua as a monster? No offense but she does look highly similar to one and I'm sure you know how people act when they see monsters, right Richter? They have a tendancy to well, er... panic."

The centurian chuckled and nodded, fading in a blue haze, her voice echoing through the chamber. "It's fine if I just vaish right? I mean I'm still here to assist you guys and lead you around but if any wandering eyes or curious people wander by I can easily vanish. Is this okay with you Master Richter?"

Richter gave an approving nod to Aster who in return gave a nod in return. They were set for a visit to Lord Ratatosk. But neither knew the events that awaited; neither knew that the spark they were about to ignite would cause an explosion just waiting to happen.

_Thus, travelling went by quick and soon enough they found themselves in the Summon Spirit Lord Ratatosk's domain._

Aster ran his right hand over his closed eyes in agitation and pain as the walls and floor around them pulsed a sickening red that would give someone a headache with ease. "I swear if we bump into another monster, Martel help them! My head hurts so much that even the slightest monster sound will make it implode..." He removed his hand and slumped, despite his excitement to see the Summon Spirit.

Aster's display brought Aqua hovering to his side in an instant, a smile playing across her lips. "And what will you do? Complain the monster to death? Yabber on about facts so much that they'll run away? You make some pretty petty threats, Aster."

The aubern half-elf gave the centurian a cross look and cut Aster off, whom was about to retort meekly. "Aqua! That's enough." Immediatly the centurian backed down, her expression goinf from teasing to submissive. The half-elf's tone then grew somewaht concerend as he adressed the human. "Are you alright, Aster?"  
>Aster gave a slow nod, as if he was trying to keep himself from a blow up. "Yeah, I'm fine. The sooner we can contact Ratatosk the better."<p>

Richter gave a firm nod, agreeing with the human as they continued, side by side with Aqua hovering along ahead of them. They were all silent, alert for any of the monsters that patrolled the area, and anticipating their meeting with Ratatosk.

After what seemed like another lifetime of travel, they arrived in a large open room, with the same pulsing red tone to it as all the other ones. But this room was different; it had a feeling of pure energy rippling through it, and as they arrived in the center of the chamber, a voice broke through the silence. The oice demanded the reasoning for their presence and so they explained. They went on how they needed that voice's help; how they needed Ratatosk's help to save the world.

But it wasn't how they had seen it.

The spirit was angry at humans, and those words...

Oh, those words stuck in Richter's head, like a bad dream that you continuously have, over and over again.

_Ain Soph Aur._

Never before had words haunted him so, nor had the sight of blood ever shaken him either. But this was all so different; this scene was like a nightmare thrown before his widened eyes, as he watched his only friend be hit by the attack and fall to the pulsing ground.

_Dead._

This much the half-elf knew, and unlike any other time he had seen death, he was swept by grief and rage, his vision blurring with tears. It all felt over; his vision even reddening with his rage as he moved seemingly uncontrolled by his thought.

It was revenge for Aster.

_Revenge for his friend._


End file.
